It is rare to pick up the paper without coming across an article
regarding housing shortages in Victoria. While the concept of
building a 'lego' style structure is not a new one, recent
developments in Australian prefabricated construction have
demonstrated that new applications for this method of construction
could prove useful in meeting Australia's socio-economic needs.
Prefabricated construction is a method of building that involves
several factory-built components being assembled onsite to complete
the building.
History
The concept of prefabricated housing became popular during World
War II in the United Kingdom as a means of quickly and cheaply
providing quality housing for displaced citizens. Today,
prefabricated construction appeals to developers for the same
reasons. The speed at which buildings can be constructed has
obvious flow-on effects for reducing costs and facilitating higher
volumes of construction.
These benefits have particular relevance to Australia, which is
currently facing a massive shortfall in the supply of homes. The
National Housing Supply Council has estimated that the shortfall in
supply will rise to 308,000 dwellings in just four years and
640,500 in less than 20 years. Accordingly, the benefits of using
prefabricated construction techniques - the lower construction
cost, the speed of construction and the precision of work - may be
appropriate for alleviating Australia's housing supply
shortage.
Australian examples
2010 has seen two buildings completed in Australia, with more to
come using the innovative techniques. In February 2010, an entire
university accommodation block opened at Australian National
University, making the building the first large-scale application
of this method in Australia. A few months later, in May the
nine-storey 'Little Hero' building (a residential apartment
building) was finished in Melbourne's CBD by Unitised Building, a
Melbourne based construction firm led by well known architect Nonda
Katsalidis. Remarkably, onsite assembly of the building was
completed in just two weeks, as a result of parts of the building
being constructed offsite and transported to site for final
assembly.
International trends
The prefabricated construction trend appears to be spreading.
Using prefabricated construction, the United Kingdom has begun
construction on its largest straw bale building for the Sutton
Bonington Biosciences Building at the University of Nottingham. The
building will be the largest of its kind in the UK and has
certainly raised the profile of the technology's applications.
Into the future
Prefabricated construction has been hailed by Unitised Building
as 'an innovation in construction technology that represents a
potential revolution in the building industry'. With the next
logical progression being to apply this method to offices, combined
commercial/residential buildings and other building sectors, this
exciting area is one to watch.
(Authored by Katherine Payne and Tanya Nguyen, Cornwall
Stodart)